Shofar: Some Practical Hints

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The religious rationale was that Moses ascended
Mount Sinai to receive the second tablets, dwelt there for 40 days, and
descended on the tenth of Tishre, when
the atonement was completed. The musical rationale is that the forty-day period
provided the necessary practice to develop the appropriate embouchure.

The Ba'al
T'kiyah should get acquainted with the shofar's sounds. He or
she (this is not the place to discuss the halakhah of a female's
participation in the shofar ritual) should practice the three true notes as
long as possible without playing the phrases in order to build the embouchure
and to become familiar with the shofar's pitch. This practice should continue
for a week to ten days for ten to twenty minutes a day. (There is more practice
to do for a first-time Ba'al T'kiyah.) Always
play standing up, as if it were an actual playing, because when you sit down, a
slight tilt of the mouthpiece occurs and will ruin the optimum embouchure.
(Take it from one who knows.)

Anatomy of a brass mouthpiece.

·Rim

Wide: Increases endurance.

Narrow: Improves flexibility.

Round: Improves comfort.

Sharp: Increases precision of attack.

1

·Cup

Large: Increases volume, control.

Small: Relieves fatigue, weakness.

Deep: Darkens tone, especially in low register.

Shallow: Brightens tone, improves response, especially in high

register.

·Throat

Large: Increases blowing freedom, volume, tone; sharpens high

register (largest sizes also sharpen low register).

Small: Increases resistance, endurance, brilliance; flattens high

register.

·Backbore

Combinations of size and
shape make the tone darker or brighter, raise or lower the pitch in one or more
registers, increase or decrease volume. The backbore's effects depends in part
also on the throat and cup.

Teaching Brass Instruments

Presenter: David R. Marowitz, Toms River Regional
Schools

Embouchure

Wait a
second. What’s an embouchure?

The embouchure is the manner in which the lips and tongue are
applied to such a mouthpiece. The word derives from the French embouchure (to
put into the mouth). You must have the proper embouchure in order to sound the
Shofar. Many Shofar sounders are not brass instrumentalists and do not know the
techniques developed over the past three hundred years. If Shofar repairing
requires the Shofar Sounder to change his embouchure, then we find another
factor to consider whether the Shofar changes its tone. If, in fact, the
repaired Shofar required a change in embouchure, the likelihood is that the
Shofar's sound changes.

To form an embouchure two groups of muscles are at work. The first
are those muscles that bring our lips to an extreme pucker, such as would be used
to whistle--the muscles around our lips. The second group are those which bring
our lips to a smile--the cheek muscles. Either group can form a brass
embouchure of sorts.

A shofar mouthpiece is a much smaller and inexact version of a
brass mouthpiece. But serves the same function. Thus, the larger the backbore,
the deeper the tone. The shallower the cup, the higher the pitch. The larger
circumference of the backbore, the better the timbre.

Accordingly, the choice of your shofar mouthpiece is At the time
of your choice of shofar, which Already has the mouthpiece built-in. (There
were some who placed a trumpet mouthpiece inside the shofar, but this practice
is pasul.)

MUSCULATURE

Muscles can only contract or relax. When you pucker your lips, the
cheek muscles relax and the lips contract. When you smile, your cheek muscles
contract while the lips relax.

Embouchure

1.Flat chin – point chin to the ground

2.Place mouthpiece upon the lips that are moist
and firmed keeping all of the red of the lips inside the cup of the mouthpiece. (think “mmm”).

3.Firm mouth corners. Relax your jaw, face and all of the muscles in
and around your lip area. When you are relaxed, begin to firm the corners of
the mouth

4.Teeth apart (about the same as the width of a mouthpiece

shank. Inverting the mouthpiece and placing it between the teeth
makes for a good way to check the distance.)

5.The throat is to be open at all times.

6.Bottom lip slightly curled
in lips together as if saying the letter “m”. Do not to tense your lips and
chin as you play. This will "pinch" the sound.

7 Don’t puff cheeks

·Lips are comparable to a double reed. A vibrant buzz will produce
a good sound.

·Buzzing practice is invaluable in the development of embouchure
control, flexibility, and a clear and focused sound

·Make a clear and focused sounds when buzzing.

If the embouchure changes it may affect one or a combination of:
1) the angle of mouthpiece placement; 2) wet (moist) or dry lips; 3) amount of
lip opening through which the air passes (the lip aperture); 4) the angle of
the chin; and 5) the amount of mouthpiece pressure in playing the high or low
notes. (Farkas, Philip, 1962; Arban, 1908; and Whitner, 1997).

Presenting ideas on Shofar playing techniques fill a need in the
area about which there is very sparse material in English. This article
introduces some brass instrumentalist techniques to fit the aerophone, called a
Shofar. Thin of orchestrating these techniques in to your repertoire so that
you can give it all you have to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the Shofar on
Rosh Hashanah (Shulchan Aruch 585:3)

Second Week

During the second week, the Ba'al T'kiyah should practice the
three phrases. For the T'kiyah, there is a slurring of three notes. The
middle note is the most important to reach, as a miscue will not be noticed if
the first and third notes are missed. The Sh'varim is probably the most
difficult,

because there is a slurring beginning with the distinct low

note. Make sure that this low note is sufficiently prominent by

extending this note as long as possible. Incidentally, I have

found that this extended low note is the most difficult for me

to perfect. The T'ru'ah is a sound of nine staccato blasts.

The T'kiyah G'dolah is an elongated T'kiyah.
Hold it as long as you are able. You should be able to hold it for 30-40
seconds with the proper breathing from the diaphragm and chest cavity as any
wind instrumentalist will tell you. When you have developed your embouchure
sufficiently well, it is possible to elongate the third note as well as the
second. This end flourish is dramatic. Which brings me to an often-asked
question: "How long should you hold the last note (T'kiyah G'dolah)?"
Many people feel self-conscious about holding the note too long so as to seem
to show off. My answer is rooted in the Mishnah, R.H. 3:3, which indicates that
the duty of the day (Rosh ha-Shanah) falls on the shofar. Therefore, Rosh
ha-Shanah is associated with the shofar. Thus, the more

emphasis on the
shofar, the bet-ter. Consequently, the longer the blast, the better. (One of my
pupils has achieved 65 seconds!)

4

THE ATTACK

Another frequently asked question is how to make the note clear in
the beginning. In music, we must "attack" the note to ac-cent the
clarity of the note. A good technique is to silently say "tu" when
the tongue touches the top of the mouthpiece and the upper lip in order to
sound the note.

If your lips get tired, allow your lips to
relax, and then vibrate them, which allows blood to circulate to the
overextended lip. It also helps to support the bottom lip with your fingers.
But the best remedy is to practice sufficiently so that your lips will be able
to withstand the muscular effort of vibrating.

If your shofar "gurgles," you have spittle in the horn.
The best remedy is to use a coffeepot brush to remove the spittle. In fact,
after each section of the service in which the shofar is sounded, you should
clean out the shofar to avoid this problem. Before you sound the shofar at all,
you should clean the shofar with ethyl alcohol.

You should also keep in mind what to do when your note comes out
incorrectly. It is better to know what to do before you err rather than panic
when the error occurs (and believe me, everybody has erred on the shofar). If
your notes are not exact, ignore the mistake and go on to the next note. If you
blow and nothing comes out, stop the attempt, and place the mouthpiece on a
different place on the lips. If you still persist, aim for the fundamental note
and just sound it with no other notes. When the lips are used to the
vibrations, you can sound the other notes.

Only play one shofar, because each shofar requires a different
embou­chure. Thus, for the once or twice a year that you play the shofar, it is
fool­hardy to change the fixed embouchure that has been formed by sounding your
special shofar.

At times, you will find that the keratin will crack, causing the notes
to vary. If so, the Mishnah allows you to use the shofar by plugging up the
hole. If the hole is horizontal and if there is an unbroken space of two fingers from the beginning of the mouthpiece
and the space of two fingers from the break to the end of the shofar, you may
re­pair it by putting some tape over it. Once I used a clarinet filler (some kind of resin), but the tone was never the same. And if the
sound is not the same, then it is unkosher (R.H. 3:6). If the horn is not
kosher, you may feel comfortable with a new shofar whose mouthpiece matches
your embouchure.

ALWAYS PROTECT THE MOUTHPIECE

Put a cushion around it so that if the shofar falls, the
mouthpiece will not chip. If it does, the chances are that it will not be
repairable.

If it is possible, one-half hour before playing, you should
practice for five minutes to warm up.

HOW TO IMPROVE TONE WHEN PLAYING A BRASS INSTRUMENT

Playing with the
proper tone can mean the difference between a good job and a great job.

To achieve a great tine requires some exercises and techniques
taken from the repertoire of brass instrument lists.

1.VISUALIZE the sound you want to make.

2.UNERSTAND That your breath comes from the functioning of your
DIAPHRAGM, the muscle on the lower end of your lings. To produce longer sounds,
use and strengthen your diaphragm.

3.Proper breathing – the lungs; the back support; and the diaphragm.

4.Experiment with tongue placement. Your tongue should lightly press
the Shofar mouthpiece to attack the note. If, for some reason, you cannot
tongue the note, then use your breath to start; hold your breath to stop.

An answer, given by Rabbi Isaac Klein (A Jewish Guide to Jewish Religious Practice) might guide you.Because
the Shofar ought not be sounded on Shabbat (less the breach of the
Shabbat prohibition of carrying), the shofar is technically not sounded
during the Yom Kippur service which ends with Neilah.

However,
after the Maariv (Evening) service, when the holiday and the Shabbat
are over, many synagogues sound the shofar at this time.

About Me

Designated as an Advanced Practitioner by the Association for Conflict Resolution, and practicing 30 years in human resources administration, ARTHUR L. FINKLE specializes in labor relations' mediation.Listed inWho's Who in Government and Who's Who in American Education and Who’ s Who in American Law, he has authored 5-books; 4-book chapters and 150+ articles on human resources issues.Director of Mediation for the New Jersey Department of Personnel, he also teaches at Kean University and Mercer County Community College.He appears on the N.J. Court Roster as a Mediator and as a Mediator Mentor.

Graduating from The Wharton School, he has taught numerous business and social science undergraduate and graduate courses at Rutgers University, Rider University, Kean University and Mercer County Community College. One of his books is a human resources text published by Harcourt, Brace, Javanovich.